<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Of Baked Treats and Sniffing Offenders by SaltedBubbles</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27780220">Of Baked Treats and Sniffing Offenders</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltedBubbles/pseuds/SaltedBubbles'>SaltedBubbles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Bakery, Baker Minho, Fluff, M/M, Office Worker Hyunjin, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:28:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,628</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27780220</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltedBubbles/pseuds/SaltedBubbles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“So…” Minho begins, taking the receipt and placing it in the man’s bag. “Any particular reason you’ve been coming to my bakery, sniffing my cookies, and not even bothering to buy them?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Hyunfest 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Of Baked Treats and Sniffing Offenders</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello! This is my official submission for the Hyunfest ^^. I figured I'd get back into writing again after like, four years by joining this. Please be nice since I haven't posted any of my writing on any platform in a really long time and it's probably not up to standard TT. Hope you still somewhat like it though!</p><p>Based on prompt #98:<br/>"Hyunjin is extremely sensitive to smells and extremely picky about it too. Minho's bakery is across the street from his office, and every morning, he'd go in, INHALE DEEPLY because Minho's shop always smells so good, and walk out without saying a word. One day a sign that says 'SNIFFING OFFENDERS HAVE TO BUY SOMETHING IF THEY COME IN' is hanging at the door"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Have a great day!” Minho yells as the last customer from the morning rush exits the bakery. The moment the bell chimes as the doors close, it’s as if the morning’s exhaustion finally catches up to him; the aches in his joints came in full blast, forcing a heavy exhale out of his lungs. He crouches behind the counter slowly, massaging his aching knees in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain.</p><p>“Now ain’t the time for a break grandpa,” Jeongin says as he places the last batch of cookies on their display. He takes one look at the clock and grimaces, 11:30. “Morning rush ended a little later today, meaning we need to frost the cupcakes and bake the chocolate buns <em>now</em> if we want to make it before the university kids start coming.”</p><p>Minho lets out a groan as he musters the last of his energy to stand up. “I’m only three years older than you, brat.” He replies as he reaches out to flick his best friend on the forehead. Jeongin senses the menacing finger and shrieks, grabbing an empty tray near their cash register to cover his face before Minho could even stand straight.</p><p>Jeongin backs away slowly, peeking over the tray to look at Minho. “Keyword there is <em>older.</em>” he murmurs before scurrying back to their kitchen, narrowly avoiding a crumpled receipt that was thrown his way.</p><p>Shaking his head, Minho chuckles as he watches the younger’s antics. He really hasn’t changed, not one bit. A soft smile makes its way on his face as he reminiscence on their childhood. Jeongin was always a constant presence in Minho’s life, even his earliest memories from when he was around four years old is filled with adventures with a baby Jeongin. From playdates at the local playground to Jeongin’s first day of school, and even to Minho’s university graduation, they were two peas in a pod. The three-year age gap didn’t stop them at all, they were always able to find a way to stay by each other’s sides.</p><p>Even as adults they’re still connected by the hip, running the bakery in Jeongin’s parents’ places. Mr. and Mrs. Yang were getting old and frankly, there’s no one they’d entrust their business to other than their son and Minho.</p><p>Well, it’s mainly Minho though. Having watched him grow up into a responsible and reliable young man, they believed that he’d be the best person they can ask to run the bakery. Minho loved baking and helping in their kitchen when he was younger, coupled with the fact that he took up business management in university as well? It’s as if Minho has a big, glowing sign that says “pick me” on top of his head. They still come by to work for a couple of days though, but the bulk of the management fell on Minho’s capable hands.</p><p>While Jeongin loves working in the bakery, he doesn’t particularly fancy working with numbers and talking to people. He’d much rather spend the entire time working behind the front of the store where his only company are the bags of flour and the warm ovens. Minho, on the other hand, is the complete opposite; he'd much rather socialise with the customers and find out ways to further improve their service than being stuck in the kitchen alone (or even worse, with Jeongin) for hours at a time.</p><p>Jeongin came to be the better baker out of both of them given that he focused more on the culinary aspect of the job while Minho focused on the business side. Not to say that Minho is incapable in the kitchen though. Even without the further education that Jeongin has, Minho has mastered the basics of baking and can handle working the oven pretty well on his own. Their arrangement works perfectly well in the way their roles in the bakery complemented each other. In fact, they worked together so well that they managed break Jeongin’s parents’ weekly sales record within just two months of taking over. Since then, their business has been thriving, and Minho predicts that it’ll only get better in the near future.</p><p>Dusting off his apron, Minho grabs the last of the empty trays and begins making his way to the kitchen. Movement from outside the bakery’s clear glass pane suddenly makes him stop for a moment, however. From the corner of his eye, he notices a strange young man loitering by the storefront. He observes how that man pokes his head through the door, <em>inhales deeply</em>, before walking out of the bakery as if he was never in there in the first place.</p><p>Minho found it rather odd. Then again, he’s seen plenty of odd things happening in the city; a weird guy sniffing at the bakery almost seems normal compared to the things Minho experienced. Deciding it wasn’t a big deal, Minho went on with the rest of his day.</p><p> </p><p>✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧</p><p> </p><p>Two days pass when Minho sees the weird guy again. It’s around lunchtime and the customers just started pouring into the bakery. Mild chatter breaks the bakery’s silence as Minho welcomes them with warm regard. He asks Jeongin to finish baking the rest of the goods while he handles the front of the store.</p><p>He’s in the middle of serving one of his regular customers when the weird guy pops into the bakery again. This time, he stays inside the bakery and looks at every individual item on the shelves.</p><p>Minho watches him from time to time as he scans the customers’ purchases. From general observation, the man is kind of attractive. His dark hair is perfectly coiffed, parted on the side to expose his forehead. His eyes are sharp and calculating, and he exudes an aura of sophistication as he stands with his back straight and his hands behind his back. He’s wearing a white button-up with a black tie, paired with black slacks. Minho assumes he’s an office worker who’s on his break, judging by how he looks a tad older than his usual university kids. The man also sports a cute little beauty mark under his eye, and it strangely gives Minho the urge to poke it.</p><p>What weirds Minho out is the fact that the guy doesn’t seem to be picking up any of the goods. He’s sort of just… hovering, like he’s observing paintings at an art gallery. He’s walking around at a leisurely pace, confusing Minho even more.</p><p>And then, it happens. The man stops at one of the enclosed displays full of the dessert pastries and looks at them intensely. Slowly, he opens the display cabinet, pops his head <em>just</em> close enough to get his nose into the display, and <em>inhales deeply</em>. He then promptly closes the display's door and makes his way out.</p><p>“Ah, sir?” the customer says, as he tries to catch Minho’s attention. “Can you let go of my cash now?”</p><p>Minho’s ears flush a deep pink as notices that he’s still grabbing onto the customer’s bill while he got too preoccupied watching the stranger. He apologises promptly and finishes serving the rest of the afternoon rush.</p><p>He returns home later that night feeling even more curious about the stranger and his peculiar behaviour.</p><p>“I should do something about him, shouldn’t I?” Minho asks his three cats as he serves them dinner that evening.</p><p> </p><p>✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧</p><p> </p><p>“Um, what are you doing?” Jeongin asks, looking over at the cardboard Minho’s writing on. “’<em>Sniffing offenders have to buy something if they come in</em>’, Minho? What…?”</p><p>“Well,” Minho replies, slapping the sign against the display cupboard the man was sniffing just a few days before. “There’s this weird guy that came to the bakery twice within the last week. He literally just stood here, poked his head in the display, and sniffed my cookies like he was a dog or something. He’s spreading all his germs on them and he didn’t even buy it! The audacity, I say.”</p><p>“Mhm, right, well you usually don’t care about any weirdos that come to the store thought? We’ve had a Naruto cosplayer ninja run between the shelves here at least once a month and you didn’t even care enough to tell him off. Unless…” Jeongin grins. “The guy was cute, wasn’t he?”</p><p>Minho’s ears warm up a little as he packs away his writing tools. “I refuse to answer that.”</p><p>“So, he is then. Interesting.” Jeongin looks out of the bakery window while he stocks some of the shelves. “If I may ask, what did this weird guy look like?”</p><p>Minho thinks for a second before replying. “From what I could remember, I think he’s an office worker. He was wearing those usual boring office outfits”</p><p>Jeongin hums. “Was he tall?”</p><p>“Very tall, just a bit taller than you, I think.”</p><p>“I see. Does he have black hair and a mole under his eye?”</p><p>“Yeah he does. The mole under his eye is kind of cute though, it makes me want to-“ Minho pauses, slowly turning to look at Jeongin who’s smiling rather ominously. “How did you know he has a mole under his eye?”</p><p>“Don’t look now, but I can see a tall, pretty guy with a mole under his eye making his way to the bakery <em>fast.”</em></p><p>Minho panics, grabbing Jeongin by the arm and pushing him back into their kitchen. Jeongin tries to protest, but Minho shoves a stray chocolate doughnut to shut him up. He closes the kitchen door and leaned his back against it for good measure. Crouching behind the counter, he bides his time and waits.</p><p>The shrill chime of the bell by the store’s entrance resounds through the premises as the weird guy enters. Embarrassingly, Minho thinks he’s just as cute as he remembered him to be. He’s wearing a blue button-up and a dark blue tie this time, but Minho thinks it suits him better than the white. Minho doesn’t think the guy even noticed him since he’s just as engrossed in looking at the displays as he was when he last came. His pace is still slow, and his eyes are cool and calculating.</p><p>When he finally reaches the last display, he notices the sign on the cupboard’s door. Minho watches as the guy’s eyes slowly widen, looking around the store in a frazzled manner before making eye contact with Minho, whose head is barely peeking from the counter.</p><p>The layer of awkwardness drowns them as they just stare at each other without saying a word. Some colour slowly makes its way on the guy’s cheeks as he smiles sheepishly, like a child caught with its hand in the cookie jar. The guy looks around frantically and grabs the nearest tray and pair of tongs. He proceeds to grab all the cookies on the display before dumping the contents in front of Minho.</p><p>Minho’s still crouching behind the counter, too stunned by the bizarre man’s actions. The guy’s cheeks turn an even deeper shade of red as Minho just stares at him with a judging look.</p><p>“Uh, hi?” The man says, laughing awkwardly. This snaps Minho out of his stupor. He gives the man a quick hello back and begins scanning his items.</p><p>The awkward tension remains as Minho wordlessly packs the goods. He doesn’t think the guy even looked at what he was getting before leaving it on the counter. Seven pieces of their triple chocolate chip cookies and eight pieces of their bubble-gum swirl? Minho isn’t one to judge, given that he too has a major sweet tooth, but this is too much even for him. He prays for the guy’s teeth as he scans the final item.</p><p>“That’ll be $45 altogether sir,” Minho finally says, placing the cookies in a paper bag and taking the cash from the man. The silence returns as they wait for the machines to process the order.</p><p>“So…” Minho begins, taking the receipt and placing it in the man’s bag. “Any particular reason you’ve been coming to my bakery, sniffing my cookies, and not even bothering to buy them?”</p><p>The guy just chuckles as he rubs the back of his neck. “This is going to sound weird but, uh, I just, really like how it smells?” it sounded more like a question than a statement to Minho, who just nods slowly.</p><p>“Right… not weird at all.”</p><p>The guy chuckles again. “I’m sorry, I’m just really sensitive to smells. It's just that the fumes from the city can get too much for me and walking past your bakery feels really nice. All your goods smell really, really good! It kind of feels like a warm embrace when I smell stuff this amazing if I’m being honest.” He smiles a little more earnestly this time.</p><p>This completely takes Minho off guard. Yeah, he still finds the whole sniffing fiasco really odd, but now it also seems a little endearing. No one ever described his goods’ smell as a warm embrace, and it makes him feel a little shy and embarrassed about it.</p><p>“Oh, well, thank you…?” He really didn’t know how to respond to that. The two of them end up in another bout of awkward silence.</p><p>“Well, er, I have to go back to work now. Next time I’ll be sure to get something if I sniff it haha,” The man grabs his stuff and makes his way to the door. Before he leaves, he turns back to look at Minho. “Thank you…?”</p><p>It took him a moment to realise he’s asking for his name. “M-Minho. My name’s Minho.”</p><p>“Thank you, Minho. I’ll be sure to enjoy these. I’ll be back soon!”</p><p>“Y-yeah, I’ll see you again soon!” The man is already out of the door before Minho even replies. He remains by the counter, still in shock when he hears the bell from the entrance chime again. Looking up, Minho sees that it’s the weird guy again.</p><p>“I almost forgot! My name’s Hyunjin by the way. I’ll see you soon Minho!”</p><p>And with that, the guy is gone for good. Minho just blinks. He’s sure this will go down as one of the weirdest encounters he’s ever experienced since working in the bakery. The door to the kitchen creaks slightly as Jeongin emerges from the shadows, chocolate smeared all over his lips.</p><p>“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more awkward than your first date, and that’s saying something.” Jeongin whistles, patting Minho’s back sympathetically.</p><p>The date in question went as awkwardly as one could imagine. It was around Minho’s first year of university when he met up with a philosophy major for dinner. The philosophy major mentioned that he wanted to become a humanitarian after he graduated. Minho, being a little slow at that moment, thought the guy was a cannibal and warned that he might not like his steak since “it wasn’t made of humans”. Minho had to call Jeongin (who was seated at the table adjacent to them, disguised in a trench coat and sunglasses) to finish his date’s dinner since be bailed before it even arrived. </p><p>The reminder of that dreaded date makes Minho moan in irritation. He slumps against the counter, head banging lightly against the hard wood, and began praying for the world to swallow him whole. Jeongin then follows suit, proceeding to slump his body on top of Minho’s depressing form and giggles.</p><p>“Something tells me he’s about to make things interesting around here.” Jeongin says offhandedly as he nuzzles his nose on Minho’s shoulder. It's moments like these when Minho appreciates his best friend’s attempt at comforting him.</p><p>Remembering Hyunjin’s embarrassed smile, a strange feeling settles in his chest as he anticipates his next visit.</p><p>“I think so too.”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>